Abu Abbas

Muhammad Zaidan (10 December 1948-8 March 2004), also known as Abu Abbas, was the founder of the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) and the mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking.

Biography
Zaidan was born in the Yarmouk Camp, a Syrian refugee camp for Palestinians. In 1968 he joined the PFLP under Ahmed Jibril, and after the PFLP, PLO, and other Palestinian factions parted ways in 1977, Abbas founded the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) group. He moved the PLF's headquarters to Tunisia, safe from Israel.

Abbas, supported by the PLO and Fatah, launched the Achille Lauro hijacking in 1985, killing a Jewish-American passenger. His plane was captured and sent to the NATO base of Sigonella, but due to connections in the Italian government, he flew from Sigonella to Rome and from there to Palestine-friendly Yugoslavia. He then flew to Iraq, where Saddam Hussein gave him and the PLF shelter.

On 15 April 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq, he was captured while fleeing Baghdad for Syria, and sentenced to five years in prison by Italy. He died in US custody a year later.